The staff of the observatory noticed the leopard this morning in the building when they went to record the minimum temperature this morning, the officials said.
They said the panic-stricken employees left the building and informed the police and wild life department, the officials said, adding the leopard fled into the nearby forest before the arrival of the wild life team.
This is the second incident of wild cats venturing into human habitats in the past three days, apparently in search of food as the forests remain covered with snow.
On Wednesday, a leopard entered a house at Ishber locality of Nishtat on the banks of Dal Lake here and was later caught by the wild life department and set free in the nearby Dachigam National Park.